Guardian Angel
by Silver Snidget
Summary: Draco gets a Guardian Angel, who is not quite what he expected. She gives him a choice - will he be able to make amends for his past, or is the hatred too deep?
1. Default Chapter

Draco Malfoy trudged into the dingy Dormitory occupied by the Slytherin fifth years. A trail of mud appeared behind him, dripping off his heavy boots. He reached his bed and pulled them off, grimacing as his pale hand came into contact with the murky slim

Guardian Angel

A/N Well, the title doesn't leave much to say, but it's about Draco(!!). Anyway, his guardian Angel appears and he has to make a choice. He is given a glimpse of the future and…I've basically told you everything. Well, please still read it!

Draco Malfoy trudged into the dingy dormitory occupied by the Slytherin fifth years. A trail of mud appeared behind him, dripping off his heavy boots. He reached his bed and pulled them off, grimacing as his pale hand came into contact with the murky slime. He ran his hand through his silver-blonde hair with a sigh.

'Damn Quidditch practice,' he muttered, pulling off his robes. He lay face down and buried his head into his pillow. 'Damn Warrington, making us practice all hours of the day.' 

He knew why the new captain was so uptight about their practices though. 'Damn Potter,' he muttered, deciding to finish chorus. 

'Oh come on, it's not that bad!' he heard a voice from behind him say. 

'Yeah right, he's beaten me every time I've played him,' he said bitterly, the words muffled by his pillow. 

'He has?' The voice sounded shocked and happy, 'Whoa. I guess congratulations are in order.'

Draco was taken aback. 'Why? Because I lost?' The voice laughed.

'Not for you! For him! Moron.'

'Why are you even in here if you like Potter?' Malfoy asked with a scowl, then he did a double take as he listened to the voice. 'You're a girl!'

The voice giggled, 'Last time I checked!'

Draco sat up with a start, picking his robes up off the floor and covering up his bare chest. He looked around for the owner of the voice and, finding no-one, he pulled back the thick emerald curtains to an empty dormitory. 

'Nice boxers,' the girl said, from somewhere behind him. Draco looked startled and put on his robes, pulling them over his sky blue, Quidditch embroidered boxers, a pink tinge appearing on his prominent cheekbones.

'Where the hell are you?' he asked, looking around wildly. He brushed a lock of silvery hair out of his eye in annoyance, and turned back to sit on his bed. When he turned back around he saw a startling sight, and jumped back about a foot. A girl of about sixteen was sitting on his bed, a totally unconcerned look in her glinting green eyes as she examined her nails. Draco took another step backwards.

'What the hell...' he started, his grey eyes wide.

'Am I?' said the girl with a grin. She tucked a lock of deep red hair behind her ear and took a deep breath. 'Well, some may call me a ghost. I could be called an angel, but I've never been angelic enough, I don't think.'

In response to this, Draco's eyes rolled back into his head and he fainted, crumpling into a heap onto the floor. The girl leaned over to look at him.

'Damn,' she said, leaning back onto his bed.

~*~*~

Draco awoke with a stinging face. His vision was blurry for a moment, then a hand came out of nowhere and hit him sharply across the face. 

'Owww' he groaned, putting his hand up to feel his tender cheek. His eyes focused as he woke up properly and he saw the girl kneeling next to him. 

'Oh, you're awake.' The girl said with a grin, leaning back on her heels.

'You're going to have a nasty bruise there. Wanna go to the nurse?'

Draco shook his head, numbly. 

'Sure?'

He found his voice at last.

'Wait, shouldn't you be answering my questions? You just appear in here, out of nowhere and expect me to listen to you! Who are you anyway?'

The girl rolled her eyes. 'Oh for crying out loud! Haven't I already answered this? I am your Guardian Angel!'

'Yeah, and I'm the Captain of the Appleby Arrows! Look, you haven't even done any angel-like things! Except for popping out behind me, and you could have been hiding somewhere. And you haven't even told me your name, don't you have any manners?!'

The girl raised an eyebrow and looked at him reproachfully. 'Touchy, touchy!'

'What time is it?' he muttered, sitting back up.

'Time? Oh, it's late. You should be in bed,'

'Well, I was going to bed when you appeared and started making stupid comments.'

'Well go on then' The girl retorted, 'Go to bed,'

Draco blushed, 'Not with you standing right here!'

The girl grinned. 'OK,' she said, and she disappeared. her disembodied voice echoed around the room, 'Was that Angel-like enough for you?' 

Draco staggered back onto his bed in shock.

The girl re-appeared behind him, pushing him back onto his feet. 'No, don't you dare go fainting on me again! It took me ages to wake you up last time!'

Draco felt his tender cheek, he was going to have a huge bruise there. Or at least a big red patch.

'Yeah, thanks for that,' he said, ruefully. Then he did a double take. 'Why the hell am I talking to you! You just disappeared in front of my eyes. You probably aren't real, just a figment of my imagination.'

The girl snorted, 'OK, but I'm not leaving until I've explained some stuff to you. There are rules, you know!'

'No, you're not supposed to say that! When I find out you aren't real, you're supposed to disappear!'

'Says who?'

'TV,' Draco replied, sitting down on his bed. The girl sat opposite him, legs crossed, eyes gleaming.

'I thought Draco Malfoy prided himself on not having anything to do with muggles? Well, how come you've been watching TV, eh?'

Draco blushed again, 'Yeah, well I was bored over the summer,' The girl smirked, and seemed about to say something when Draco interrupted.

'Wait a minute! If you are an Angel, you must be dead, right?'

The girl nodded, and Draco continued, 'So how long have you been dead?'

'Fourteen years,' The girl replied, a faraway look in her eyes. Draco coughed, and she reverted her attention to him.

'Well if you've been dead fourteen years, how do you know Potter? And what's your name?'

The girl grinned. 'I can answer both of those with just one sentence. My name is Lily.' 

This obviously didn't have the impact she had expected, as Draco stared at her blankly.

'Oh right, you don't know. Well, my name is Lily Potter.' She said, and Draco's eyes widened. He seemed about to faint again, but she gave him a warning glare.

'You know, for a boy, you do faint an awful lot. It's very unmanly.' she told him lightly, and he narrowed his eyes in response.

'How come you're my Guardian Angel then?' Draco asked sulkily, 'Shouldn't you be out annoying Potter?' He spat out Harry's name as though it tasted bitter, and Lily glanced at him reproachfully.

'Sor-eee,' he muttered, exaggerating the word sarcastically. 

'Well we don't get to pick who we help. I was assigned to you. If I got to choose, I definitely wouldn't have chosen a big, whiny cry-baby like you, OK?'

'Now who's touchy?' he asked with a glint in his eye. Lily grinned and hit him playfully on the arm.

'So if you're Potter's mum...' Draco started, but Lily interrupted him.

'Could you not call him that? It really freaks me out, because that's also my name, and James' '

'...OK, Harry's mum...,' Lily nodded.

'...then how come you only look the same age as me?'

'Oh, right,' Lily remembered, 'Well, I was allowed to change what I looked like, because they thought it might be easier for you if I didn't look like...'

'My worst enemy's mother?' Draco suggested.

'Well, basically, yeah.' 

'And can anyone else see you, or are you going to make me look like I'm talking to myself?' Draco enquired, barely believing he was actually having this conversation.

'It differs. I can make myself visible to just you or to anyone, or completely invisible. Right now, I'm visible to everyone.' 

Draco nodded, relieved that he wouldn't appear too insane to anyone who might wake up.

'This is what I look like when I'm only visible to you.' Lily told him, demonstrating. She suddenly turned sort of translucent, and Draco found with surprise, that although he could still see every detail of her, he could see through her. She held up a hand for him to look through.

'Fascinating isn't it?' she asked with a grin, 'I spent hours just sitting doing that when I first got here.

'How long have you been here?' Draco asked, suspiciously. Lily winced and replied, very quietly.

'Ummm...a few...months.'

'MONTHS!!' Draco yelled, but he was promptly shushed by Lily. Draco held his breath and listened. He heard Goyle grunt, but he simply rolled over and fell back asleep. Draco breathed out heavily in relief.

'Months!?' Draco repeated, more quietly.

Lily shifted uncomfortably. 'Well, we don't have to show ourselves right away. I could have been watching you for years without you knowing. Everyone has a Guardian Angel. Just because you can't see them, doesn't mean they aren't there.'

Draco nodded as he began to understand.

'So how do you become one?'

'Well, every Angel has to complete one Assignment to earn their wings. You're my first. Then they can go back to Heaven. They don't have to, you can do as many assignments as you want. Some stay Guardians forever.'

Draco's head was swimming. He sat back against his viridian pillow and tried to absorb all this new information. Lily grinned.

'Confused?' 

Draco looked at her and raised an eyebrow, in a 'well duh!' sort of expression.

'Why are you showing yourself now anyway?' he asked, 'Why never before.'

'We're only supposed to show ourselves when it's necessary. Like if you're about to die.'

She saw Draco's eyes widen with shock, and he opened his mouth in horror. 

'No you're not about to die,' she reassured him, and he sat back in relief. 'But sometimes, a person has a choice in life, even if they don't realise it. Their Guardian Angel helps them make the choice, so they can grow up and be happier than they would have been. You see, Angels can tell you the future. What would happen in my life if I did this, or would I be happier if I did this. But only under special circumstances, so don't come running to me with your divination homework, OK?'

Draco nodded silently, and they were quiet for a moment. Then Draco remembered something.

'What's my choice,' he said softly, sure he already knew the answer. To be or not to be...a deatheater, that is. 

'You're right,' Lily told him gently, 'It is about whether you'll become a deatheater.'

Draco was shocked. 'So you can read minds as well. Well, that's just bloody brilliant isn't it? I've just been sitting here thinking how hot you'd be if you weren't Potter's mum, or if you weren't about thirty, or if you weren't, well, dead, and you've probably been sitting there laughing at me! You could have had the decency to tell me! But no, you just...'

'Draco.' Lily said in a warning voice, but her eyes were twinkling. Draco ignored her and carried on.

'Sit there, reading my mind like some kind of...'

'DRACO!' Lily barked, 'SHUT UP!'

He did, shifting on the bed and crossing his arms with a scowl.

'I can't read minds.' Lily told him, enjoying the look of shock on his face. 'I've been watching you for the last couple of months, remember? That's how I know you're upset about this deatheater stuff.' She paused a moment, and a grin stretched across her face. 'But thanks for the compliment!'

Draco scowled further, narrowing his eyes at her. 

'Oh don't be so grumpy. Anyway, your choice. It's not just about the deatheater stuff, that would be too easy,'

'Too *easy*?' Draco muttered to himself.

'No, life is never that simple. Anyway, if you want it put simply, you can be nice or not.'

She paused a moment, and reached into the pockets of her Hogwarts robes. 

'Why are you wearing them anyway? I would have thought that if you had to spend eternity in something, you wouldn't have chosen school robes.' Draco said snidely. 

'Well this is in case someone sees me. You know, they'll just think I'm red-head girl from Slytherin,' she told him, motioning towards the silver logo on her robes. 'As long as no-one I know sees me. That just means I have to be invisible when Dumbledore or McG are around.'

'McG?' Draco asked, confused.

'McGonagoll,' Lily told him. 'Anyway, it's a lot less conspicuous than wings and a halo, right?'

Draco nodded. 'So if you are only visible to me, then no-one else can see you right?'

'Well yeah, that's what it means, isn't it?' Lily told him, rolling her eyes. She stopped abruptly and thought a moment. 'Wait. I think I'm remembering something. Yeah, that's a memory. Yes, that's it. Someone told me, if a human discovers me, I can't hide from them. So don't let anyone figure out who I am, or even see me.'

'So, what were we talking about again?' Draco asked, his eyelids drooping. 

'Don't you dare fall asleep on me!' Lily exclaimed, pinching his thin arm. He sat back up with a start. 

'Anyway, this is what I was looking for.' she said, pulling out a small white globe.

'A Crystal Ball?' Draco asked, disdainfully, remembering his experiences with Professor Trelawney.

'It isn't a Crystal Ball you idiot!' Lily said, 'But it does act a bit like one. Anyway, you just have to look into it and it shows you what your life will be like if you continue on your chosen path,'

'Whoa. Big words for such a small person,' Draco smirked, 'You were quoting the handbook weren't you?'

Lily looked sheepish. 'Well, not the handbook. Just the person who taught me about it. And what do you mean small person? I have a good foot on you!'

Draco didn't argue, he knew he was short. He was so short he was sometimes overshadowed by second years. But it wasn't his fault. He had been seriously ill as a young child and had been infected again several times over the years. He had almost died every time, and the illness had affected his growth. He was incredibly thin too, last time he had been to a doctor, they had asked if he was anorexic. His paleness was partly due to that as well, though it was also because of his 'Malfoy genes.' His thoughts were interrupted when a finger came out of nowhere and poked him on the forehead, knocking his head backwards.

'Hey!' he exclaimed, 'Haven't you injured me enough yet?'

Lily smirked, 'Well you had kind of zoned out and I'm bored. We have to get this over with.'

She held out the globe. 'Now, this is your future if you choose not to change...'

Curious, but very wary Draco leaned forwards. The swirling mist had turned a dark inky black, and he could see a fuzzy picture forming inside it. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know his future, but he would have to know if he was going to choose. He squinted, trying to make out the picture in the globe. 

Suddenly, the globe flashed a brilliant white and a whirlpool of colour erupted from it, rainbow twinkles showering over Draco. He jerked backwards, staring wide-eyed at Lily in panic. 

'Holy Crap!' she exclaimed, reaching out to Draco, intending to pull him out of the whirlpool of light. Her hand reached his shoulder...and went right through. 

'Uh-oh.' she said, stepping back and looking at his wide eyes in horror, 'Either something went wrong or you're dead.'

Draco tried to speak but no words came out. He looked at her, panic stricken.

The light carried him off the bed gently, the light spinning around him so fast he felt dizzy. Then, all of a sudden, the light disappeared back into the globe, taking Draco with it. 

'Hmmm,' Lily said, '_That_ wasn't supposed to happen.'

Ooooh….cliffhanger. Tell me, do you want more of this? If you do, please review and I'll write a few more chapters! ^-^ If you don't Draco may stay trapped in my crystal ball forever! Bwahahahaha!!! *Ahem* Anyway, I also need a new title for this. 'Guardian Angel' isn't exactly inspired. But I've used up all of my creativeness churning out two fics today (and they're both about Draco! *dreamy sigh*) so please, please *PLEASE* will someone give me a title! I'm open to all suggestions, you can leave them in a review!

~Snidget


	2. 

thid

Guardian Angel

Chapter Two

A/N Here we are! Chapter two! I apologise for any mistakes, but I'm too lazy to read through it. That's why I need a beta reader. Any offers? 

I'm also very sorry this has taken so long, but I had it all finished, then the disk I saved it on decided it wasn't going to let me access my files. So it was lost forever. This is the best I could remember it all, and is really awful quality compared to the other one which I poured my heart and soul into, but like I said; I'm lazy. Oh well, this'll do. 

~*~*~

Draco felt the world stop spinning around him as he fell back onto the cold ground with a 'thump.' He leaned forwards and put his head in his hands, swallowing down the nauseous feeling the impromptu trip had brought on. When the feeling passed, he looked up, his silver eyes awash with confusion. The last thing he remembered was being sucked into the little globe. He was sure this wasn't supposed to happen; Lily would have told him if it was. 

He looked around and an awful sight met his eyes. He gasped involuntarily as he saw a ring of black-clad figures surrounding him, masked and silent. He'd never been to a meeting before, but he knew enough about it to know who they were. Death Eaters.

They were standing in a circle that enclosed him, each clutching a wand at their side. But the ring was a lot bigger than Draco had ever imagined, at least twice as many people as his father had ever told him. And they were all staring at him, well, their masked faces were, but their eyes could have been looking anywhere. 

Draco's mouth went dry. Could his father have somehow found out he didn't want to be a Death Eater? Maybe he'd told the others and they were going to kill him! 

He glanced around in panic and saw, in horror, a tall, skeletal thin figure standing behind him. His vivid red eyes were narrowed and his abnormally long fingers were pressed together in the trademark 'evil' position so accurately portrayed in many Muggle films. Voldemort. 

Draco gasped and stood up hurriedly, backing away from the figure. Voldemort didn't move, but stayed still, lost in thought. Draco carefully moved towards the edge of the circle, hoping against hope they wouldn't notice him trying to escape. Finally, Voldemort's head snapped up. 

'Remove your masks.' He said quietly, his high, cold voice cutting through Draco's head. The Death Eaters shifted uneasily. 

'I said take them off!' Voldemort snapped, glaring around the circle. 'Before they were a means of protection, the Ministry could not recognise you and you could not turn in each other. But now we are in control of the Wizarding World, 'Draco gasped, 'There is no need. Remove your masks and know your kin.'

Slowly, each Death Eater removed their mask, throwing it at the ground. Draco looked towards his father, who didn't seem to approve of this idea, if the scowl twisting his features was anything to go by. Draco's gaze flicked to the shorter figure at his father's side and he gasped as he saw the it. It was pale with a pointed face and silvery-blonde hair. Him.

Draco's head was spinning again. Him, a Death Eater? He examined his alter-ego's face more carefully and realised it was older. So he must be in the future. Voldemort has taken over the world! 

He glanced again around the circle, glancing in horror at a few of the figures in it. Of course there were the obvious ones, Crabbe and Goyle, Millicent, Pansy and most of the other Slytherins, but some of the figures shocked him. Glancing around the circle he noticed a tall red-headed man, freckled and looking remarkably like a Weasley. Draco shook his head. He must be mistaken. He looked at the other side. He noticed a few Ravenclaws, and some Hufflepuffs he had seen around the school. Draco looked around, nervously. The Death Eaters didn't seem to have noticed him, neither did Voldemort. He must be invisible. He heard a muffled yell, and looked around, startled, but the others didn't seem to have noticed it. 

'Draco!' came the shout again. Draco looked around him, startled, before he recognised the voice. He saw Voldemort start talking again, his twisted face alight with cruelty, but Draco couldn't hear him. All he could hear was Lily's voice, distant and echoing, calling his name.

'Lily! Get me the hell out of here!' he yelled, stretching his voice as far as it would go. 

'I can't!' came a distant reply, 'This wasn't supposed to happen! You'll just have to wait until you can come back out!'

'When will that be?' Draco yelled back. He had butterflies in his stomach, but they weren't the butterflies that brought about a nervous fluttery feeling. These were big, sumo-wrestling butterflies with lead boots on. He was dreading the answer. 

'I don't know!' Lily's voice sounded helpless. 'Either you'll get seen a load of stuff from the future and then it'll kinda spit you back out, or ....'

She left the answer hanging in the air, but Draco knew what she was going to say. He'd be stuck in this world, invisible and helpless, forever.

'Great.' he muttered to himself, kicking the grass with his heavy black boot. 

'Draco...' Lily's voice echoed through the air again, but it sounded fuzzy, as though he was listening to a radio that wasn't tuned properly, 'Draco, I...keep...you'll have t...' he strained his ears, but he could only hear snatches of what Lily had been saying. Her voice faded out suddenly, and he could hear his surroundings him again.

Suddenly, the scene around him began to tip, he fell to the floor as the sound went fuzzy again. Voldemort was yelling, his cruel, high voice piercing through Draco's very bones, and everything went black. 

When Draco opened his eyes again, it was silent. He looked around himself, but he was no longer surrounded by hooded figures. He was still in a graveyard, but it was daytime, the sun was dazzling him. He looked to his left and saw, to his great surprise, a crowd of black-clad people. But their faces weren't masked, and their eyes were fixed in front of them, and most had tears running down their cheeks. Draco looked at the point where all their eyes were fixed. A coffin was in front, and people were coming forward quietly to lay their flowers on top of it. He froze, a panicked look in his silvery eyes. This couldn't be his funeral, could it? He glanced at the crowd. No, the Weasleys wouldn't be here if it was. 

He stepped towards the coffin cautiously, dreading what he was about to find. He gasped as he looked inside the silk-lined wood. Harry Potter lay motionless in the bottom, eyes closed, pale as death. He heard a strangled sob from beside him, and saw Hermione standing there, her face thin and pale. She laid the rose in Harry's hands and leaned forward. She kissed him gently on the forehead, then stepped back. She walked to the left, still carrying a rose. Draco saw with a start that three more coffins were beside Harry's.

He stepped up to the next, the fear of finding his coffin gone. I'm not dead, he realised, I'm a Death Eater, remember? I probably killed them. 

He leaned over the next and immediately wished he hadn't. 

Ron lay there, his fingers curled as though he had been clutching tightly onto something, probably a wand. A long scar stretched across the side of his head, it looked as though he had been cut with a large knife or a sword. Draco turned away. He didn't really want to see what was in the next coffin, but he didn't have to. At that moment, the world tilted again, but he kept his balance this time. The same miserable blackness enclosed him, and he clenched his eyes shut. 

When he opened them again, he saw a rather comforting scene. A roaring fire had been started in a shabby fireplace and two chairs were pulled around it. Draco moved closer trying to get some heat to penetrate his icy fingers. 

'Shame about Hermione though,' he heard someone say. He whirled around and saw a woman sitting in one of the chairs. He vaguely remembered seeing her on Platform 93/4. Mrs Weasley, although her hair wasn't as vibrant, it was now a dull, rusty red and greasy. Her face was streaked with dirt, but she didn't seem to care. He heard another voice answer her, timid and halting.

'Mum? How did she...because I was away, and no-one told me.' Draco whirled around to see the second speaker. her hair was wispy and tangled and her hair so dirty that he found it hard to recognise her. Then she glanced his way and he saw the woody brown eyes he had so often made fill with tears. Ginny.

'Oh yes, you were in France. ' Mrs Weasley's voice sounded pitying. 'Well, you know when...Ron and Harry were...'

Ginny nodded, her eyes filling up with tears.

'Well, they wanted to fight him together, all three of them, they thought they were strong enough if all three of them were there. But she didn't make it. She was captured by Malfoy.'

Draco and Ginny gasped, and Draco's hands clenched into fists.

'Draco Malfoy?' Ginny asked uncertainly.

'Yes, Draco Malfoy.' Mrs Weasley spat out his name as though it tasted bad, and her whole face was contorted with rage. Draco had a vague feeling he wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that rage.

'Anyway, she escaped, but too late to save the boys. After that she was so upset. She wouldn't eat, she just sat there and dreamed about what it could have been like. No, she didn't starve herself,' she added, seeing Ginny's horrified look. 'No, she just wasted away. Poor dear.'

Ginny's tears poured down her cheek and Mrs Weasley got up and put a comforting arm around her. Draco buried his silvery head in his knees as the world began to tip, determined not to fall over this time. 

When he re-opened his eyes, he was standing somewhere he knew well. The hill over Hogwarts. He remembered the first time he had seen it, it had seemed so majestic and tall. It didn't anymore though.

The building was blackened and evil-looking. Where the flags of the houses had once flown, were four black flags with a green skull and serpent on. The Dark Mark.

This must be Voldemort's headquarters. The world began to spin again and he shut his eyes, but it wasn't as drastic this time. He opened them a few seconds later and immediately knew where he was. The Dungeons. Well, he had spent a lot of time down there. But now there were walls dividing it up into tiny cells. He walked down the middle of them and grimaced as he saw one person being whipped. He glanced uncertainly into the next and saw the red-headed man he had thought was a Weasley. He was advancing on a person who was backing into a corner screaming. The Weasley look-alike laughed, cruelly and stretched out his wand. 

Draco turned away, feeling ill. He reached the end of the room and turned to go back. But something caught his eye as he turned. Or to be more precise, someone. Him. 

He stepped into the cell, next to his other self, who was laughing as he twirled his wand. Draco looked over at the wall and saw why. Ginny was chained to it, bruises covering her elfin face. Draco was horrified, but the other Draco clearly wasn't. 

'So, little Miss Weasley,' he said, walking towards her. He bent down to look her in the face but she turned away.

'Have you considered your answer?' he asked in a mocking voice.

Ginny was struggling to speak. 'I will...never...join you.' she managed to say, and her quiet, firm voice sent chills down Draco's spine. 

'Such a pity,' the older Draco said, running a pale thumb own her cheek. Ginny shivered and shook her head to try and get his hand off it. Draco raised his wand.

'Perhaps this will change your mind. _Crucio!_'

A jet of light flew out of Draco's wand towards Ginny. She screamed, a high-pitched, ghostly scream that echoed around the dungeons. She fell to her knees, pulling on the chains which held her to the wall, but to no avail. Draco lifted the curse and she stayed kneeling on the ground, tears pouring down her cheeks. 

'Pathetic,' The other Draco said, sneering at her. 'The least you could do is stand up. Come on, die with honour.'

Ginny struggled to her feet, tears still coursing down her face. 

'You know, it's no wonder Potter never liked you,' Draco mused, 'You're so pitiful. Did you think he didn't know? No, he knew. He just thought of you as Weasley's whiny little sister. No, Potter the Golden boy never had time for you, did he? He only had eyes for Chang. At least she had enough sense to tell him where he could shove it.'

'Rubbish.' Ginny spat at him, 'You always were jealous of Harry,' She managed to say all of this without hesitating once, which seemed to infuriate Draco more. His elfin face was contorted with rage, and he curled his pale hand into a fist. He drew it back and punched Ginny, knocking her backwards into the stone wall. He advanced on her, threateningly.

'Never say that again,' he hissed, 'I wasn't jealous of Potter. Look where all his fame got him. No, I wasn't jealous of him.'

Ginny looked up at the older Draco, another bruise already forming on her face. 

'Rather be dead than like you,' Ginny whispered, and Draco (the original) wondered why she was trying to annoy his other self. She was taunting him, teasing, and he was getting more annoyed than ever. 

He hit her again, and she fell to the floor, a small cry escaping her as his fist collided with her jaw. She pulled herself to her feet again, blood dripping out of her mouth. 

Draco turned away, horrified, as the other hit her again. 

The world began to tip again, and he saw white light swirling around him. He closed his eyes, a single tear trickling out of one, and prepared himself for whatever he had to see next. The dizzy feeling lasted a long time, and then he felt himself being thrown forwards and he landed, facedown with a crash.

~*~*~

'Draco? Draco, can you hear me?'

He heard the voice again, muffled and quiet, and faint pictures were swimming in front of his eyes. They were fuzzy and hard to make out, but he blinked, and his vision cleared. Lily was leaning over him, a concerned expression in her emerald eyes. 

'Draco, thank the Gods, you're alive!' Lily exclaimed, pulling him into a hug. She let go and he fell back onto his pillows.

'How'd I get here?' he asked, motioning to his bed.

'Oh, well you were in that globe thing for ages, I got really bored. But then it spat you out, just like I said it would! But, unfortunately,' she grimaced, 'Being a little ball, it doesn't have very good aim. Instead of spitting you onto the bed, you landed on the floor and hit your head. And passed out. Again,' Lily stressed the word 'again,' but there was a twinkle in her eye which told him she was only playing. 

'So, did you decide what you're gonna do?' she asked, her face turning serious.

Draco nodded, weakly. 'I can't be like that,' he said, motioning to the globe. 'The things I did! You have to help me be different Lily,'

'Why I'm here!' She replied with a grin, and Draco could tell she was delighted at his decision.

'So how do I change?' Draco asked, pulling himself up to a sitting position. Lily smirked.

'That's the fun part. You have to start being nice to people, especially Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys.'

Draco groaned. 'Why is this part fun?'

'Oh it isn't for you,' Lily told him with a grin, 'But it's going to be fun to watch!'

Draco put his head in his hands and sighed. This was going to be impossible.

'Anyway,' Lily continued, 'You can't just start being nice straightaway, or they're going to think you're up to something. So just start by calling them their real names.'

'Potter is his real name!' Draco protested, 'And they call me Malfoy.'

'You know what I mean, call him Harry. And they aren't going to stop being nasty to you unless you stop being nasty to them. If you want to change, Draco, you're going to have to work for it.'

Draco nodded reluctantly.

'And, stop teasing Ron, you just get him worked up.'

'But it's fun!' Draco said with a smirk, but a look from Lily wiped it off his face.

'Just walk away, even if he does insult you.'

'You know, this is about the exact opposite of what my dad used to tell me.' Draco mused.

'Draco,' Lily said, 'You have to take this seriously. Do you really want to end up like that?' She said, motioning to the globe, which lay, forgotten, on the floor.

'You're right. OK, I'll be nice. Can I go to sleep now?' Draco asked, remembering that it was the early hours of the morning.

'Yup, I'll leave you to it.' Lily said, getting off the end of his bed.

He crawled into the covers and a thought struck him.

'Lily,' he said with a yawn, and she turned around from the doorway, 'Is there anything else I have to do?'

'You have to stand up to your father.' Lily said, a very serious look on her face.

Draco groaned as he closed his eyes. This wasn't hard, it was impossible.

~*~*~

A/N Hehe. Next time, you get to see Draco trying to be nice. That should be...interesting! Please tell me what you think, there's this cool little box at the bottom that lets you. See it?

~Snidget


	3. Draco's challenge

Guardian Angel

Guardian Angel

Chapter Three

Aha! Here is the return of the author everyone thought was dead! Heh, sorry about that. I got another big writers block, but it got better when I was in France. Then my compy broke and we have to replace the whole hard drive. But now we've got it back, and a whole new one as well! Expect loads of chapters!

Another quick note - Krazzie Krys, I'd love for you to beta for me, but by the time I'd written this, it was so late that I thought it was mean to make these poor people wait even longer. But I will send you the next chapter as soon as I have written it!

Enjoy this un-beta-d chapter

~Snidget

~*~*~

'Beep beep!'

Draco opened one eye groggily as an obnoxious beeping noise echoed in his ears. With a start he saw a girl standing above him, holding a Muggle alarm clock over his head. He pulled the covers around himself and sat bolt upright, before noticing her long red hair and cheeky smile.

'Oh it's you,' he murmured, before snuggling back into his warm covers and closing his eyes.

'Charming,' Lily said sarcastically, prodding him on the arm. He groaned, then turned onto his other side, ignoring her. Lily held up the alarm clock again and turned the volume up to 'max.'

'BEEP BEEP BEEP!!'

'Ok, I'm up!' Draco yelled over the deafening noise, and Lily turned it off. 'You'll wake the others up.'

'They're already down at breakfast.' Lily told him, 'It's late. I thought you could use the time to sleep after what you went through last night. I'll leave you to it then, shall I?'

Draco nodded, and she slipped out of the curtains. He heard the door slam a moment later, sighed, and pulled a clean set of robes out of his trunk. 

~*~*~

Draco hurried out of the deserted hall with a piece of toast in his hand. He had got halfway down the first corridor when he stopped, wondering where he was hurrying to.

'You've got Potions next,' a voice told him, from the shadows on his left. Draco jumped back, startled as Lily appeared.

'Would you quit doing that!' he yelled, setting off down the hall again.

'What's gotten into you?' She asked, reappearing in front of him with a 'pop.' 

'I'm tired, you moron, because *somebody* had to appear and keep me up all night.' Lily looked thoughtful. 

'Oh, right. That,' she said. 'You're still annoyed about that?'

Draco shook his head and descended the stone steps to the dungeons. He hurried down the corridor, Lily bouncing merrily behind him. He pushed open the door to the Potions room and stood in the doorway, checking over his shoulder to make sure Lily had disappeared. She had.

'Mr Malfoy, are you going to come in or just stand in the doorway?' A cold voice asked him. Draco turned to see Snape looking at him.

'Oh, right.' He stepped inside. 

'Today we are making a Confusion Potion. Set up your cauldrons, the recipe is in your books.'

Draco moved towards his usual table where Crabbe and Goyle were waiting. A voice whispered into his ear.

'Remember what I said! You have to be nice!' Lily's sing-song voice told him, and Draco could almost see the smirk on her face. He sidled over to where Harry, Ron and Hermione had set up their cauldrons.

'What is it Malfoy? You get lost or something?' Ron's voice sneered at him.

'Nope,' Draco replied, putting his stuff on the table. Harry and Ron exchanged looks of disbelief.

'Malfoy, the Slytherins sit over there.' Ron told him, pointing to the other side of the room, where the Slytherins were looking as shocked as the Gryffindors. 'Did he lose his memory?' Ron was whispering in an undertone to Harry. Hermione took matters into her own hands.

'Draco. We Gryffindor. You Slytherin. You no like us.' She told him slowly, gesturing towards him. There were giggles from the other tables. When Draco continued to unpack his bag, she turned away. 

'Just ignore him, he'll go away.' Harry said quietly, his emerald eyes quizzical. As they started to add the ingredients, Draco heard a voice beside him.

'Are you gonna talk to them?' Lily asked, grimacing as she got a noseful of the purple smoke coming out of his cauldron. She was in her 'semi-transparent' state, so she was only visible to Draco.

'Nope,' he replied, stirring his potion. 'Where've you been, anyway?'

Lily nodded her head towards Harry, who was deep in conversation with Ron. 

'Oh, right.' 

'He is lovely isn't he?' she said, tears welling up in her eyes. Draco snorted.

'Potter? Whatever.' he said, a little too loudly.

'You must have noticed he's very handsome.' Lily smiled.

'It's not like I spend all day looking at Potter, I have better things to do with my time.'

'Nice to know Malfoy, but who are you talking to?' 

Draco gasped, startled at the sound of Harry's voice. He looked up to see the three of them staring at him. Lily giggled as a pink tinge spread across his pale cheeks.

'Uh...well...I...er...' he stuttered.

'Did you drink any of that Potion, Malfoy?' Hermione asked, her mouth spreading into a small smile.

'Look, she's talking to you, so talk back!' Lily hissed.

'Urm....no, but yours looks good,' Draco mumbled, wondering where the years of etiquette lessons had gone. He saw Lily beside him, hand over her mouth as she tried not to laugh.

'I'm sorry,' she gasped, 'But that was the lamest thing I've ever heard!' Hermione, too, was looking amused. 

'Her potions _always_ look good,' Ron said haughtily, an angry look on his face. He turned away. 'Come on, we have to concentrate, the Potion's almost boiling, after that we only have a few seconds to add the herbs!

Hermione gave him a quizzical glance. 'Since when do you care about Potions?'

'And why are you talking like a textbook?' Harry added. Ron blushed and looked downwards. Draco followed his gaze and saw the phrase written in the book. He smirked.

'Shut up, Slytherin!' Ron said, spitting the last word out as if it were poison.

'Great insult Weasley. Well, I guess you can't afford any good ones.'

Ron's ears turned scarlet and he started towards Draco. Hermione and Harry both had hold of his robes and were holding him back.

Lily re-appeared in front of him with a frown. 'Draco,' she hissed, 'Be nice!!'

'I'm trying!' he whispered harshly. Forcing his mouth into a painful smile, he looked up from his potion, now a dark bubbling blue. 'Sorry Weasley.'

'Ron, call him Ron,' Lily reminded him.

'Uh, I mean Ron. Sorry about that, I was...tired and upset and I didn't mean that.'

Harry and Hermione had both dropped his robe and were staring at him in shock. Ron's mouth had fallen open and he seemed to be having trouble talking.

'Guh...um..da...what?!!'

'I said I was sorry. Now are you going to accept my apology becaue I don't do this for fun.'

Ron was still looking dazed. 'Um...yeah.' Snape's voice cut through the class, jolting the three Gryffindors out of their daze. 

'We will now be testing our Potions. If I could have one volunteer...' he looked around at the silent class, 'no-one? Well I'll just have to choose then.'

Draco sunk lower into his seat. He didn't need anymore stress today. Snape was still gazing around through narrowed eyes, relishing the power he held over the cowering fifteen year olds.

'Potter.' he said, with a vindictive smirk. Harry groaned and picked up a spoonful of potion. Grimacing, he put the spoon to his mouth and swallowed.

Immediately he seemed to become dazed, his eyes glazed over and he stumbled backwards.

Lily appeared beside Draco. 'Oh Gods, what if he's been poisoned!!' she shrieked.

'Ow!' Draco whined, holding his ear. Lily took no notice, her eyes fixed on Harry, who was currently sitting on the floor gazing around like a lost puppy.

'Oh stop moaning, he's had Granger helping him. It's just a confusing potion.'

'Oh. OK.' Lily smiled as Harry tilted his head on one side and smiled happily. She disappeared again. 

Then the bell rang, making Harry shriek and scramble under a table. Draco hurried to pick up his bag, not sure if he could stand the sight of Hermione and Ron trying to coax Harry out without laughing insanely. Ron stuck out his foot as Draco walked past, making him stumble and fall onto the floor. Harry yelled and backed away as Draco stood back up. 

'Don't say anything,' Lily's voice warned him from beside his right ear. Draco's cheek's flushed a pale pink, but he bit his tongue and turned away, missing Ron's astonished expression. He stormed out of the classroom but refrained from slamming the door. 

'That's it Lily! I can't stand this anymore!' he burst out, 'It's too hard! I can't do it anymore.'

'Calm down,' she said, popping back in next to him. 'Just stop being a baby, of course it's going to be hard at first, but you have to stick with it. It's not that embarrassing.'

'No, that's it!! I'm not going to be humiliated any more!' Draco yelled. He turned his head to see a second year smirking at him. 

'Talk to yourself often?' The second year said, still grinning.

Draco turned to glare and somehow missed the wall in front of him. He walked into it and fell back with a 'thud.' A crowd of people gathered around, giggling. Draco pulled himself up.

'What?!' he said, with the air of someone being stared at for no reason, complete with childish pout. He walked away haughtily and headed for the Slytherin common room, Lily's laughter ringing in his ears.

~*~*~

Review! Please! I need reviews...haven't had any for months...please...can't survive!


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